UTRGV forward Dima Zdor (right) and freshman forward Isaiah Barganier run contested drives during practice Oct. 24 in the UTRGV Fieldhouse on the Edinburg campus. Ramiro Castro Jr./THE RIDER PHOTOS
On Oct. 18, head coach Matt Figger and student athletes Justin Johnson and Dima Zdor participated in a Western Athletic Conference Media Day in the UTRGV Fieldhouse, giving insight into their season.
Figger said he is “extremely happy” about this year’s team.
“We’ve been able to get a lot of continuity when we went out and recruited,” Figger said. “We decided we had to become No. 1 and a bigger team from a size standpoint. The one thing I like the most about this team is their unselfishness. We’ve got guys who have played at other programs that come together.”
Last year, the team’s record was 8-23 overall and 3-15 in conference, but this year, Figger said the common denominator across the board is players’ assist numbers at their previous schools.
“I think we’re going to have a pretty good passing team,” Figger said. “We’ve got good size, which will help us recover in defensive situations, where we were smaller last year.”
Forward veteran Johnson, who has averaged 17.7 points, 2.3 assists and 6.7 rebounds per game, explained how he will use his experience for the team.
“Just stepping up and being more of a leader on and off the floor,” Johnson said. “Coach preaches that to me every day, just coming in and being an everyday guy, knowing what he expects–being a leader to the guys, helping them learn new stuff, learning the system and how to dwell in the system.
“They’ve all been coming together really good in practice, playing high and low, just learning how to get to their spots in the post. We’ve been building chemistry since June and it’s been good.”
Forward Zdor, a transfer student from Grand Canyon University, explained what he likes about the team so far.
“I knew coach Figger for a while,” Zdor said. “He had plenty of success in the past coaching the teams, and he has been recruiting me since high school. As soon as I transferred, I knew I could not pass up that opportunity, especially with what he was trying to build here, kind of rebounding from the past season.”
He said he wanted to be a part of the team.
“I’m extremely blessed with what he is doing with us right now, which is building this camaraderie,” Zdor said. “I’m gonna tell you that we are going to surprise a lot of teams in the WAC. I just saw this poll by the coaching staff yesterday and it’s going to be a whole different conversation two months from now, which I am very excited about, and I’m ready to show people what we can achieve this season.”
He also said he believes the team is going to be good this season.
“We have players who are coming in who are going to be a big help this season and it’s going to show throughout the year,” Zdor said. “There’s definitely a lot of pressure off because they can score well and they can play defense.”
The UTRGV Men’s Basketball Team is set to start its season with an exhibition match against Concordia University at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
